The twenty-first tropical depression of the northwestern Pacific Ocean was born as a NASA satellite flew overhead on Oct. 1, capturing its "baby picture" in infrared light.

On Monday, Oct. 1 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT), Tropical Depression 21W (TD21W) had maximum sustained winds near 25 knots. It was centered about300 nautical miles south of Hong Kong, near 17.4 North latitude and 114.8 East longitude. TD21W has tracked northward at 5 knots and is expected to curve to the northwest and west.

Infrared imagery from the AIRS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of Tropical Depression 21W as a developing low pressure area on Sept. 30. The purple areas indicate the most powerful thunderstorms with coldest cloud top temperatures.

Credit: NASA/JPL, Ed Olsen

On Oct. 1, 2012, infrared imagery from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite shows that the center of circulation is well-defined and the strongest thunderstorms are building in the southeastern quadrant of the storm and wrapping into the center.

The system has been quasi-stationary over the past 12 hours, because it is in a weak steering environment with nothing to push the storm in any direction.

Cellulose obtained from wood has amazing material properties. Empa researchers are now equipping the biodegradable material with additional functionalities to produce implants for cartilage diseases using 3D printing.

It all starts with an ear. Empa researcher Michael Hausmann removes the object shaped like a human ear from the 3D printer and explains:

The phenomenon of so-called superlubricity is known, but so far the explanation at the atomic level has been missing: for example, how does extremely low friction occur in bearings? Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institutes IWM and IWS jointly deciphered a universal mechanism of superlubricity for certain diamond-like carbon layers in combination with organic lubricants. Based on this knowledge, it is now possible to formulate design rules for supra lubricating layer-lubricant combinations. The results are presented in an article in Nature Communications, volume 10.

One of the most important prerequisites for sustainable and environmentally friendly mobility is minimizing friction. Research and industry have been dedicated...